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Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution is a 2019 Japanese computer-animated film directed by Kunihiko Yuyama and Motonori Sakakibara. The film is the 22nd installment in the Pokémon film series and a CGI remake of Pokémon the First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back. The film was animated by OLM, OLM Digital, and Spite Animation Studios. It is also the last movie to release during the airing of Pokémon the Series: Sun and Moon, despite the film set place during Pokémon Indigo League. It is one of the two Pokémon movies to release in 2019, the other one is the live-action Detective Pikachu movie, in which both movies have a Mewtwo in a prominent role and heavily use CGI as opposed to 2D animation. It premiered with Japanese voices and English subtitles at the Anime Expo on July 4, 2019. It was released in Japan on July 12, 2019, and was released worldwide outside of Japan and Korea on Pokémon Day on February 27, 2020 on Netflix.
A special Mewtwo for use only in Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! was distributed in Japan from April 12 to September 30 for purchasers of premium advance tickets.
Plot[]
The plot remains largely the same as the first movie. Ash Ketchum and his friends are tricked into visiting New Island, an island ruled by a mutant Pokémon, Mewtwo. There, they find out about Mewtwo's plans to clone their Pokémon and destroy the world, and a massive battle follows between the clones and the originals—including the "original" counterpart to Mewtwo: Mew.
Cast[]
| Character | Japanese voice actor | English voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Ash Ketchum | Rica Matsumoto | Sarah Natochenny |
| Misty | Mayumi Iizuka | Michele Knotz |
| Brock | Yuji Ueda | Bill Rogers |
| Pikachu | ||
| Togepi | ||
| Jessie | Megumi Hayashibara | Michele Knotz |
| James | Shin-ichiro Miki | James Carter Cathcart |
| Meowth | Inuko Inuyama | James Carter Cathcart |
| Narrator | Unsho Ishizuka | Rodger Parsons |
| Mewtwo | Masachika Ichimura | Dan Green |
| Mew | ||
| Giovanni | Kenta Miyake | Ted Lewis |
| Dr. Fuji | Minoru Inaba | Billy Bob Thompson |
| Miranda | Sachiko Kobayashi | Lisa Ortiz |
| Corey | Hiroshi Kamiya | Ted Lewis |
| Neesha | Ayane Sakura | Lisa Ortiz |
| Fergus | Hiroyuki Yoshino | James Carter Cathcart |
| Raymond | Raymond Johnson | Aaron Phillips |
| Nurse Joy | Chika Fujimura | Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld |
Production[]
The film was publicly announced on December 14, 2018.[1] It was first revealed in a teaser trailer following Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us in Japan, which featured Mewtwo. The first official trailer was released on December 31, 2018. Masachika Ichimura and Dan Green reprised their roles as Mewtwo in Japanese and English, respectively.
Unsho Ishizuka, the series' narrator, who died on August 13, 2018, served as his posthumous credit. It was recorded in March 2018, five months before his death. Takeshi Shudo received a posthumous credit for this movie's screenplay.[2]
Since the film is a near shot-for-shot remake of the first Pokémon film, with minimal changes in the script, The Pokémon Company had to obtain the rights to that script from the estate of Takeshi Shudo, who had written the screenplay for the original film.[3] According to film co-director Kunihiko Yuyama, the production staff chose to animate the film using 3D graphics to portray a "different dimension of the Pokémon world" that would normally be difficult to carry out through other methods of animation.[4] Though the film was primarily based on the Kanzenban or "Complete" version of the original film, a scene featuring a young Mewtwo growing up with clone companions that eventually passed away was not adapted for the remake but acknowledged during the film's marketing cycle.
Music[]
Like the first movie, the '98 variant of Aim to Be a Pokémon Master serves as the Japanese opening, while Together With the Wind for the ending with a new arrangement with Shoko Nakagawa performing with Sachiko Kobayashi, the original artist for the song.[5] Kobayashi also voiced Miranda in the film. Pokémon Theme and Keep Evolving were played in English instead.
Streaming[]
On January 21, 2020, The Pokémon Company International announced that the film would be released worldwide (except for South Korea) as a Netflix Original Movie on Pokémon Day – February 27, 2020.[6] This is the first Pokémon film to premiere on a streaming platform rather than premiere in theatres or on television.
The film was the most-watched anime title on Netflix in 2020.[7]
Reception[]
The film holds an approval rating of 44% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on nine reviews, with an average rating of 6/10.
Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Charles Solomon criticized the film's animation, saying: "Ash and his friends Brock and Misty have the disturbing, plastic look of badly rendered skin", and added: "the cartoony characters look out of place amid the hyper-real water, lightning, explosions and other special effects." He concluded that the film "feels like poké-business as usual."
Paul Asay of Plugged In wrote: "For some, Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution will feel extraordinarily nostalgic. Others (read: non-fan parents) will likely be thinking... Meh." Brian Costello of Common Sense Media gave the film a score of 3 out of 5 stars, saying: "Whether or not viewers, and Pokémon fans in particular, enjoy this movie is inevitably dependent on how much they like the change to 3D computer animation."
Gallery[]
| Main article: Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution/gallery |
Trivia[]
- This is the only movie to be directed by two people as opposed to one.
- The first poster for the movie is similar to the original teaser poster for Mewtwo Strikes Back.
- This is the only Pokémon movie or anime series for which the Japanese audio is available on Netflix in the United States. The Japanese audio is paired with the English video, however.
- Also, in the Japanese version on Netflix, Pokémon Theme (Mewtwo Mix) plays in the opening scene instead of Aim to Be a Pokémon Master.
- This is the first Pokémon movie to have Misty and Brock in main roles since Pokémon Heroes: Latios and Latias and Zoroark: Master of Illusions, respectively.
- It is also the first movie not to broadcast on television in the United States in the same year as in Japan since Zoroark: Master of Illusions. and not to feature any Pokémon from the concurrent generation.
- It is the first form of animated Pokémon media to be dubbed into Arabic since the cancellation of the main series' Arabic dub after Judgment Day! (Pokémon Advanced Challenge's season finale).
See also[]
- Pokémon the First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back (original movie)
- The Birth of Mewtwo
- Pokémon the Movie: Genesect and the Legend Awakened (another Pokémon movie featuring Mewtwo, in which Mewtwo was voiced by Reiko Takashima and Miriam Pultro)
- Mewtwo — Prologue to Awakening
- Detective Pikachu (another Pokémon movie released in 2019 featuring Mewtwo)
- Mewtwo Returns (sequel of the first movie)
- The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon (anime special featuring Mewtwo and Mew)
References[]
- ↑ Pokémon movie reboots look to continue with announcement of Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution SoraNews. Date: December 14, 2018.
- ↑ Behind the Scenes of Mewtwo Strikes Back-Evolution. Author: Dogasu.
- ↑ Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution Impressions, Changes, and Sequels! PokéBeach.com; Date: July 4, 2019.
- ↑ Pokémon the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back EVOLUTION's director explains the decision to us CG animation GoNintendo. Date: July 28, 2019.
- ↑ Shoko Nakagawa and Sachiko Kobayashi Perform Pokémon movie 22 Ending Anime News Network; Date: April 6, 2019.
- ↑ Pokémon's Tweet on the M22 English dub announcement
- ↑ Netflix Anime Viewership Doubled in the U.S. and Across Asia This Year Hyperbeast. Date: December 14, 2020.
External links[]
- M22 at Bulbapedia, the Pokémon wiki.
- Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back — Evolution at the Internet Movie Database
- Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back — Evolution at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back — Evolution at Anime News Network
- Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back — Evolution at Netflix